Powder container



June 1o, 1947. B, s, FUESS 2,422,090

I POWDER CONTAINER l Filed May 28, 1945 INVENTR. Billings '5'. 226255 BY Patented June l0, 1947 UNITED STATE POWDER CONTAINER Billings S. Fliess, West Orange, N. J.

Application May 28, 1943, Serial No. 488,835

l 2 Claims. (Cl. 102--70) This invention relates to containers and more particularly to containers adapted to h'old powder or other explosives. While my invention may be adapted for many uses, for the purpose of illustration and for the sake of clarity, I have shown it adapted to high explosive shells, similar to those now in use for general and anti-aircraft work by the United States Army and Navy.

In the past it has been customary to use silk bags to contain gun powder and particularly black gun powder for the detonating charge. Black gun powder is particularly absorbent and has a tendency to pick up moisture from the air particularly where the humidity is high. As a result there have been numerous shell failures where the shells after having been fired failed to explode in the air due to the failure of the detonating charge.

An object of this invention is to provide a powder container which will be moistureproof in construction and which will properly function regardless of the humidity or weather conditions. A fiuther object is to provide a powder container which will be simple and inexpensive to manufacture and certain of operation. Another object of my invention is to provide a powder container which while moistureproof and rigid in part will be frangible enough to be readily pierced and the contents exploded by the action of the percussion cap. Other objects and advantages of my invention will become apparent as the description proceeds.

In the acco-mpanying drawings,

Fig. l is a cross sectional View of a shell of the Mark 18 type showing a form of my powder container installed.

Fig. 2 is a top plan view partly in section of a form of my powder container.

Fig. 3 is a cross sectional view taken on the line 3-3 of Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 is a bottom plan view of the container.

Fig. 5 is a detailed cross sectional view taken on the line 5--5 of Fig. 2.

Fig. 6 is a cross sectional view of another form of shell showing another form of my powder container.

Fig. 7 is a top plan view of the powder container.

Fig. 8 isa cross sectional View taken on the line 8 8 of Fig. '7.

Fig. 9 is a side elevation partly in section of another form of my powder container.

Referring more particularly to the drawings, the shell Il] is provided with a timing mechanism II which may be set to cause the shell to f' oi th'e shell.

explode at a predetermined moment during its night. The timing mechanism sets oiT a percussion cap I2 causing an explosion within the chamber I3. In the past a small powder bag of black powder was placed in this chamber and ignited by the percussion cap. This charge in turn was transmitted through Vthe channels I4 to th'e main or exploding charge of the shell.

In this particular use of my invention,- I provide a powder container I5 which may be made of any suitable material such as metal but preferably of plastic. The container in this instance consists of a ring with a hollow central portion IE to allow for the lower part I'l of the nose The ring has an inner annular` wall il and an outer annular wall I8. The portion connecting these walls I9 is sloped upwardly and is provided with weakening lines 20, 2l Vand 22. The lines 20 denne with the line '22 a section 23 which is surrounded on three sides with weakened portions. Ribs 24 may be provided in the under wall. The upper portion 25 is Vmade of very light plastic material which is cemented over the channel 26 formed in the container I5. A hole 2l is provided for lling purposes. The container I5 is completely manufactured by molding or otherwise forming the heavier portion thereof. Ihe covering 25 is then cemented over the top of the walls I'I and I8. The container is then filled through the opening 21, th'e opening plugged and the plug cemented in.

When the cap I2 is exploded by the ring mechanism in the conventional manner, the cover 25 is ruptured and the powder charge contained therein exploded. This will cause the container to explode along the weakened lines 2U and 22 to allow th'e eXplosion to be carried through the channel I4 to the main charge thus causing the shell itself to explode.

In the form shown in Figs. 6, '7, and 8 a slightly different type of shell is involved and the container 30 is more dish-shaped to fit the particular cavity 3| in that type of shell. The outer walls 32 slope toward the bottom and an opening 3.3 is formed in the bottom. The bottom is further recessed at 34 to receive a covering of easily frangible plastic material 35. The center portions are provided with pillars -36 supporting a rim 3l and a cover 38 of light, frangible plastic material is cemented across the outer edge of the rim. In manufacturing this container the disk 35 is not added until the container has been lled. It may then be inserted and cemented into place. The operation of the container is substantially identical with that shown in Figs.

1 to 5 except that when the top 318 is fractured by the cap |`2 and the charge ignited, the explosion will be through the disk 3 5.

The form of container shown in Fig, 9 is particularly adapted to a shell of the ilare type and is designed to contain the charge to expel the flare ,from the shell. The container 40 is oylindrical in shape and has a reduced opening il at one end while at the other end it is closed by a light frangible plastic material similar to that used in the other containers described. The

opening 4I is closed by a disk 43 which may be cemented into place.

In Fig. 1 I have shown a container of the type shown in Fig. 9 in place. The detonating charge will blow through the disk 43 igniting the propulsion charge which in turn will rupture the bottom 42 to expel the flare.

While any type of material which lends itself to a moisture-proof container may be used, I have found that in actual production plastic is readily molded to the desired shape and that the covering material may be best made of thermosetting, easily frangible sheet material. The heavier parts of the containers may be thus iastened to a sheet of this material by heat and pressure and the excess material between them die out away. While I have shown my containers as adapted to high-explosive shells, they may be put to many other uses and the essential feature of my invention resides in a container formed of rigid, water-proof material sealed with a readily frangible moisture-proof covering.

I claim:

1. In a high explosive projectile having a percussion cap chamber situated at the forwardV end of the projectile, an annular primer charge chamber located immediately behind said percussion cap chamber and communicating directly therewith, and a main powder chamber located a short distancebehind said primer charge chamber and communicating therewith through spaced channels, a container for the primer charge, said container comprising an annular, channel-shaped member of a size and shape corresponding to the size and shape of the annular primer charge chamber, said channel-shaped member being open at the top and being provided with a readily frangible cover affixed to its said open top and closing its said annular channel, and a plurality of grooves formed in the bottom of said channel-shaped member dening spaced areas between them which correspond to the spacing of the channels leading to the main powder chamber of the projectile, said spaced areas being readily broken away from the rest of the channel-shaped member along the grooves formed therein when the primer charge explodes.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

, UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 923,922 Wratzke June 8, 1909 1,329,503 Casey Feb. 3, 1920 1,625,631 Spotswood et al. Apr. 19, 1927 2,232,928 Sekella Feb. 25, 1941 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 6,296 Great Britain Mar. l0, 1897 

